- Barrow Strait
Barrow Strait is a shipping
waterway in Northern Canada's territory ofNunavut . The strait separates several large islands including Cornwallis island andDevon Island to the north, from Prince of Wales Island, Somerset Island, and Prince Leopold Island to the south.The first 30 miles of its eastern section has no islands, commonly does not freeze until the end of November, nor consolidate until the end of December. Garrett Island,
Lowther Island , Young Island, Hamilton Island, and Russell Island lay south of Bathurst Island. Browne Island, Somerville Island, and Griffith Island lay southwest of Cornwallis Island.Beechy Island lays off of Devon Island.From its eastern junction with
Lancaster Sound to its western junction withViscount Melville Sound , the strait measures 170 miles long. Its eastern mouth, between Prince Leopold Island, and Cape Hurd on Devon Island, is 28 miles wide. Its western mouth, at Cape Cockburn, southwesternBathurst Island , is 66 miles wide. [cite web |url=http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/ocean/seaice/archipel_e.html |title=Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound
accessdate=2008-04-22 |date=2007-06-05 |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada] cite book |pages=7 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bYMpwN0COjAC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=%22barrow+strait%22&source=web&ots=cPXInuBFXz&sig=hJvL_jXjRy6IroXxtkP3DM-pmhE&hl=en |title=The Northwest Passage: Arctic Straits |last=Pharand |first=Donat |authorlink= |coauthors=Legault, L.H. |year=1984 |publisher=Martinus NijhoffPublishers |isbn=9024729793]Habitat for Arctic fox, birds,
polar bear , ringed seal, and whales is located along the ice edge, near Leopold Island, while consolidated ice in the strait's central and western sections provides a bridge for caribou crossing.References
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